With the costs of listing a company's stock on the national stock exchanges prohibitive for many small companies, it would be in the country's best economic interest to allow for smaller state and local exchanges to exist. These companies would be able to offer their stock on these local markets at less cost than on the national exchanges. This would allow small companies the opportunity to issue stock to state residents, thus diversifying the residents portfolio. This will also allow these companies to raise needed capital for investment that they would not have been able to raise in our current system. This system will not hurt the national exchanges because these companies listing on the state and local exchanges would not have been able to list on the national markets, again due to prohibitive costs.